Introducing Acedia

Hello everyone! 

In this blog post we want to share how we conceived the story of our new adventure game, but to be clear, we will inform you only about the main aspects of it.

It was Monday 15 June. After some additions to our team, we started working on a new project, a first person adventure game. However, the story was yet to be decided. Everyone was getting ready for our scheduled call. As we were talking about our progress, at some point, Kostas jumps out of nowhere and tells everyone that since our team consists of seven people we should take advantage of this number. George thought that this sounds pretty cool and started searching about how he could involve this number in a story. After some time, he recollected the movie Se7en and started to focus on the seven deadly sins and how he could involve them into a story.

Se7en movie

After some research, he found that in 1589 Peter Binsfeld has developed a theory which connects every deadly sin with a demon. George thought that this was enough information to make up a starting point for our story so he casually mentioned in the following call. 

Cover of Peter Binsfeld's book

Slowly, the story started to build up and George decided to search deeper for each sin and its corresponding demon. After a deep dive into various books he came up with a story and the core aspects were decided. If you want to learn more about this mysterious story, stay tuned.

See ya!!!

And that's how the story goes

So, how exactly did we get inspired to make a horror game?

What runs into our minds by the time we are visualizing our dream of creating a bone-chilling horror story? Let me introduce you to a brief overview:

A funny-looking figure was walking up and down a narrow corridor, filled with objects from another time. He would often pick up different objects and look at them with a faint spark in his eyes, then he would lose his cheerful expression and dive back into his chair, in front of a huge leather-bound book. Next to him, a series of pages with schematics of ingenious contraptions, all born of the master puzzler’s twisted mind and behind all that, a series of paintings, portraying people of different ages and genders. 

The funny looking man would look at all these carefully, then consult the great leather-bound book and scribble some notes in scraps of paper here and there. He would then proceed to read even more of that huge book, go fetch more books of its sort, consult them too, write even more scribbles and so on… 

Just as he was beginning to figure one thing out, another thing would pop up and concern his deeply disturbed mind, creating more problems that need solving. 

And when the final pieces of the grand puzzle were set, he just yelled “ah yes!” and gathered all these scribbles, to write them all down in the order they were meant to be, creating a monstrous book, not quite the sort of masterpiece one would expect, but still devilishly looking and perverse as it ought to be. 

“It is done!” He said in a slow, quiet hum and he would turn to his masters looking for approval. 

But alas, his masters were not beings of flesh, at least no more. So all he could do is write a letter to one, giving it unto the Raven, whilst waiting for the Great Old One to claim the Book of old.

That is, more or less, what happens in the writer’s head during the process of production. A state of convergence of the old with the new, where his influences must be harnessed into something new and completely different, giving birth into a new form. When the form is almost complete, the storywriter will have to combine the fine artistry of the concept artist, with the mind-blowing game mechanics and puzzles of the game designer, enriching his writings with the flow and pace that would make the story really shine.

During the final stages of conception, the storywriter will have to do the one most difficult task there is: Hide the main bulk of his story, along with tons of the game designer’s flow and the artists’ concepts and paintings, letting the ones that are courageous enough to brave through the hazards of the programmer’s sadistic machinations discover the truth behind the veil of lies, and see things as they really are.

This, is the art of narrative design in games.

If you don't believe us, here is a brief sketch of how is one of monsters portrayed by our Concept Artist :

If you cannot see clearly what this monster is about,
then you may as well Imagine seeing it in front of you.

How things work out on Project AH

Hello everyone!

It's been a week since our last post and we are very happy with our reach so far. Over 200 people have subscribed for our Horror event on the 30th of March and this makes everyone happy, and fuels us for more sweet things to show you!

So, this time, we thought it would be a good idea to share our working methods and our workflow for the project. So how was the idea structured and went into Unity?

The Mechanics (Game Design)

First of all, we wanted to merge core mechanics of 2 of our favorite game genres, them being Adventure and Horror.

We want to keep the original thinking and puzzle part of Adventure games, making people use pieces of paper in front of their PC to write down the clues we give them! We want people to start cross-referencing and gluing together the core hints and images / events they have witnessed in game in order to get a better grasp of the task at hand, how to solve puzzle X? Should we think about spatial recognition and/or riddles? Should we use different parts in the house in an illogical, yet clever and surreal way? Should we just google the answer? Hopefully, the thrill of solving a puzzle on your own will feed their curiosity and help them solve the puzzles on their own.

At the same time, we wanted to keep the horror part that makes horror games... well. Horror games! That comes down to a deranged and mutated creature lurking around in the dark corners of the game environment, always looking for you, waiting for you, wanting to kill you in many ways. The lurking horrors that make you stealth, sneak past them and think of ways to avoid them, since our character will be practically useless against them in pure combat. It all comes down to using your head much more than using your wits.

Combining these two together, we have created a formula that requires the players to be constantly vigilant with their surroundings, and always on the lookout. Being unable to stand in one place the whole time, will sure terrify some players, especially those who take their time into thinking and solving puzzles, because you will never be actually safe...

Spatial Recognition Puzzles and Sequence is playing a major part.
Not to mention the surreal illogical thinking required for some of the puzzles.

The Story

What good would a horror/adventure game would be without the story element? That s the reason for delving deep into the classics: From early Gothic Fiction, such as the Castle of Otranto, to Poe's writings and with a deep love for Lovecraftian lore and the occult, we've written a true horror piece that will shake the very foundations of your sanity, depriving you of your well-earned rest and make you lose countless hours of sleep, engaging you in one of the most disturbing adventures you have encountered so far, in order to solve the ultimate mystery of one's life. 

And the best part?

It's staged in the heart of all that is morbid, in the late 1800s, the end of the Victorian Era, where civilizations' foundations change from the roots up and the occult takes over every dark corner, every little crevice of one's mind.

Just another ordinary looking haunted house. Why the heck not?

The Coding Part 

With a few scratches on some notepad, agony, pain and some brainstorming hours later, we knew exactly what our game needed in order to build up our mechanics, so we got together and in a few days prepared a very draft prototype of the game, white-boxed with dummy graphics. We are going to post about these mechanics in more depth in future blog posts.

Having a clear image of those 2 genres in our head, it was no hard task to implement such mechanics. It would seem that our game had the minimum available mechanics and it was still playable. After looking through the features over a second iteration, we started adding more tasks that add to the immersion of the game, such as better AI, better VFX and better SFX Systems.

THAT door... Is sure to be hosted in another blog post all by itself. Mark my words...

The Audiovisual Part

After the breakthrough we had with the mechanics being programmed and the story being written, we had to marry the puzzles (Mechanics) with the plot (Story) of our game. That combination however could not be seen or heard with the proper props.

It was then, when our artists stepped into the battle field of production and had their say into how the props and models would appear in game, how creepy the feel and aesthetic would be and how much immersion would the audio part add to the game. All that, in conjunction with the main story plot, the mechanics being tested in the prototype scene inside Unity, and the unstoppable flow of ideas from the minds of our art and audio team.

A 3D Head, because i have nothing to share here.

Genesis Game Studios' New Project

It's been quite some time since we posted anything on our blog.

To tell you the truth, we were so busy catching up and cooking the next game in our horizon, that we wanted to be sure.

So, let me tell you a quick story.

6 months ago, I got a job as a Lecturer at SAE Institute. My field of expertise would be no other than Unity Game Development. Then, I got to meet many greek students who wanted to become game producers and change the image of Greece in the fields of game development. I saw the fire in their eyes every time they talked about their dreams. It would seem as if they felt that living in Greece would cut their wings, not let them fly and not go after it. But after a couple of off-the-record conversations they realized that it's not the country they live in, it's how badly they want to go out there and become someone. So, after some days of thought, a couple of inspired students stepped up and talked to me about creating something big for their portfolio. Something that would exceed their expectations of themselves.

"We want to create a game that would exceed our expectations and would not fit into the mobile genre. We want to remember something big after we graduate and having something significant and unique to show to possible employers out there. We want to go Indie."

These words pierced my mind like an arrow to the knee. I knew I had to take part in this!

And so i said "meeeh, why not" and thus me and some other students began assembling a team of developers, mostly students who wanted "the big hit" for their portfolio. And then, after talking to a couple of students from the 3D Animation Department of SAE, they quickly became interested in our secret project idea and wanted to go full throttle into doing something different for themselves.

My goal was to assemble a team of passionate students who wanted to take their next step in their game development career and have something in their portfolio / CV that would stand out.

And then... The idea of our game was born.

So, I'm officially announcing that we, Genesis Game Studios and this small student team will work on a new project, that will not be a mobile game, and we plan to release it on as many digital stores as we can.

A Note Left on the Table. What does it say? Find out on our next blog post!

What about the project you say? We will not reveal THAT much for now, but be sure to keep in touch, as it's going to be our biggest project yet, and this is going to be, yet again, since Dementia, our Development Blog, to keep you guys informed of how things will work on this game and what we are going to do.

It's all about A.I. - And showing off rooms!

Finally! The game now properly locks to one character, and we control him only now! The rest of the explorers now have a very very very BASIC form of AI.

They can think for themselves! They can open rooms, steal from others and even attack them at will based on predetermined design guidelines. They know what's good for them, as such when you complete your turn with your character, you can FINALLY see all the others doing stuff at will. Mostly navigating into other rooms.

But what else you'd expect when the curse has not broken and the scenario has yet to be revealed? Their only goal after all IS ACTUALLY to open up all the rooms discover as much of the house as possible!

The AI to handle the post-curse effects is yet to be written, since we focus on polishing the pre-curse thinking patterns of the characters.

The rooms have also been optimized. Some messy models were thrown away, some others just got dessimated, just enough to keep the poly count low. We have also given the players the ability to tinker with the Video Quality Settings : Low (Without any shadows emitting light) , High (Which really takes the game to another level, if you can handle the FPS cost).

Currently we are focusing on making the game playable by one player. We believe we will reach our goal easily by the week, so we can start wrapping up and adding spice to the game itself the time remaining until the Imagine Cup Greek National Finals.

We are very excited and we hope that every sacrifice we've made so far won't be in vain. We will take this to the very end..!

We don't like not showing you what we are preparing, so here is a quick view of the Ritual Chamber, where the Rat King will perform his Wicked Rat Ritual..!

The Ritual Chamber - Perfect for Spellcasting, Rituals and other Demonic Sacrifices...!

The Curse of the Rat King

Hello people and have a great week!

It's Monday and it's about time we gave you an exclusive update for Dementia : The First Scenario to be implemented in the Game for our Imagine Cup version of the game..!

Story :

" It's been 10 years since anyone has set foot in the Bloodthirsty Manor. Spectral Remains of tortured people roam about. All the explorers shake hands at the entrance and they hope they do find what they seek in this God forsaken place.

Cracks on the floor, Chains can be heard from far away and nearby, a sound that no human ear can easily discern, strange light from unknown sources is filling our hearts with hope, as we venture deeper and deeper into the house.

We can hear the rusty gears of the machinery room every now and then, yet there is no power in the house. Only candles to show us the way, it feels as if the kind spirits of those who seek revenge from the evil ones, guide us to find their dirty little secret. You can feel there is darkness lurking in every corner of the house, under every sheet, or blanket, all you think you'll find is blood.

Everywhere. 

The whole house itself may be acting against us, but we know our true purpose here. And we hope our minds can bear with what tricks it will play us. Our sanity is the only veil that covers our terrified soul from the aparitions of this damned place. Dark Clouds gather and cover our footsteps. 

We feel like there is no way out. Most of our comrades seem to have lost their minds, they all have grevious wounds made by either cursed objects, animated furniture, or even themselves. Everyone is on the verge of insanity. Especially this shady man, with which we entered the house. But who is that man really?

You can hear his screaming. You can hear his pain. You cannot feel anything less than empathy for that poor soul. He seems completely ruined and drained. Yet here comes the skittering sound. Noises of low-pitched squeaks now roam in the house. You can feel that the house is infested.

Suddenly, the noise gets louder and louder. Every time. Things only get worse, as we have met up with our friends at the Entrance Hall. Except this one man. We know something has got to be happening. His screaming has now reached a climax. We can feel his tears on his face. He is not screaming because he saw something. He is crying out loud. He knows he has met his demise, or will probably do so soon.

Loud Skittering sounds are getting louder every second. We hold hands with our friends. We curse the moment we decided to enter that pesky manor. Why bother? Why leave that hot cup of tea and our favorite books lying in our rooms, yet to be finished, just to come here for "our greater purpose"? 

When we took the courage to walk forward, we saw him. He was not the same as before. He had a skull on his head, his body was hairy and pale gray. He had a long tail and his hands held a staff. Our friend became a were-rat. He were frozen in fear when we saw him. He completely ignored us, rushing towards the basement. We knew that such abominations should not live in our world. He was not our friend anymore. He was a demon.

"The Rat King Himself - One shall be deemed worthy enough
to command the army of Rats. That night, he is the chosen."

As we ventured towards the basement ourselves we were attacked by his vermin followers. Rats! Rats everywhere! It was a bloodbath. So we took matters in our hands and keep moving towards the basement. He heard wicked words out of the WereRat's mouth. He was their king. And even more Rats appeared out of thin air. 

We knew our final, true purpose. We HAD to destroy them all..."

The Curse of the Rat King - Scenario #1

We took the liberty of giving you out our first Scenario this way.
But what will you be at the end? The shady man who turns out to be a wererat? Or the fellow companions who must battle their way through the maze of Rats?

Most of all... Who do you think emerged victorious?

Blackthorn Manor Interior : Volume 2

Blackthorn Manor has sure been busy this week. Characters started entering the mansion, exploring the first rooms of the house, they've been having a spooky time, facing ghosts or spectral monsters!

This week, we will keep throwing you more furniture from the Blackthorn Manor:

The Librarian's favored. Once said to be filled with books, now the library
of the Manor holds only the creepiest secrets one can ever know. Only
the fearless may attempt to reach out for the forbidden knowledge the
Manor holds. But what can someone do with such knowledge other than
being a lonelybeing, on the verge of insanity and complete mental breakdown?

Sinners, Rejoice! For the saintly chimes of the Church Organ can

calm your inner self, and aid in purifying your corrupted soul. Let the 

melody calm your spirits and be reborn from sin itself, to a new being.

You are now chosen for a purpose, either it is life or death.

Only the most peculiar and weird objects can be found inside the Manor's
treasure chests. Sometimes it can be a stuffed animal from the child
that used to live there, or you may even find a Rusty Spear to use in
your... adventage if the spirits agree with you that is...!

Books. Holders of secrets known to few. Every page holds a feeling,
every word holds dreaded pain and eternal sorrow. That's because
no ordinary books can be found in the Manor. No sweet fairytales
or steamy romance novels. Only vile tomes of blood and cruelty.
Only hideous chapters on headhunting or Voodoo.
Even grimoires of black magic, undeath and corruption.

In many rooms, you may find a heater that was once used to keep the former
owners of the Manor warm in the cold winter nights. Even if they still work though
they have completely no effect on explorers when the house itself is creepy as hell
and cold blood runs through everyone's veins. Especially when bone-chilling
apparitions wander around the house, seeking to avenge their death.

They may look comfy but noone can guarantee that they won't animate,
hurl themselves at you, or even grow a blade among the comfy pillows underneath.
This is the house of a murdered family after all. Yes they were harmless once.
But times have changed... And so have the armchairs...

You can find plants around the house. Whilist the house is full of evil
entities, these plants somehow give you the idea that there may still
be hope after all, when life is still blooming inside a deathtrap.
What would you do if you were actualy given a second chance?
You know it could be false deep inside you, yet you want to believe.

Angel Statues to greet Explorers in the Blackthorn Manor and
guide them to the upper sections of the house. Some of them can be
found broken, as they are ruined by unknown abominations, others
are still intact and await their demise... or resurrection by greater beings.
Far greater than one can even conceive.

That's all for now, from the Blackthorn Manor. 

We'll catch up next week!!

Stay tuned, and of course... 

Experience the curse...

(  ;...;)

Blackthorn Manor : Interior - Volume 1

Heya folks, how's it been? It's been an exciting week over here, since we had a blast at Infocom this Wednesday, thus the first HexCraft Wednesday without a HexCraft blog post! BUT, we won't let this week go without one, so expect a post about our impressions and personal experiences this weekend.

So let's continue with bringing you the latest information about Dementia : Tales of Blackthorn Manor.

Since we've already "Met the Cast" , we will now move on to giving you more concrete things, other than plain concept art, so you can see where phase 2 of asset creation is getting to. 

This week, we will present you some of the furniture of the Blackthorn Manor, that reside inside it, waiting for you to tinker with them, explore them, search them for clues, and interact with them. Here comes a burst of 3D models created just for the Manor, by our 3D Environment Artist , Menos.

A spooky chair to greet the explorers near the entrance hall.
Sit on it, and your fate shall be sealed. For eternity.

A bed, with unknown history of events occured over and... under the sheets.
I am talking about demonic rituals and sacrifice.

A wooden bench, which can be found at the Altar, for
those misguided souls to pray when there is no hope of atonement.

Wall candles attached on those bloody walls, to bring warmth and light.
Merely an essence of Hope, in this Dark Manor.

A Grandfather Clock, to remind us of time, aging and our life cycle.
All sort of weird stuff can happen at Midnight... Besides Chimes.

What's in the closet? Is it some bloody casualwear? Or maybe a hidden weapon?
Maybe it's the corpse of the owner, in pieces, or maybe it's Boogeyman.
It could, of course, be empty.... Right?

Don't look in the mirror, you may not like what you see.
It may be your reflection, but then again, it may be someone else's reflection.
Sometimes you may even the owner standing right behind you.
LOOK BEHIND YOU NOW!

Some events may occur that depend on these objects, because everything counts, everything can happen inside the Blackthorn Manor. You never know what rooms you'll explore or who will betray the rest. And of course, WHAT he will turn into. These objects add up to the total experience of the curse.

Are you still bold enough to explore the manor?

Till next time.... 

*buwahawhahahwahahahahahahah* 

*flies away*

Hello Imagine Cup - Hello Dementia

Been 2 days since our announcement of HexCraft, and now here are some big news for you : Genesis Game Studios will do their best to compete on Imagine Cup 2014 , Games Competition.

Hello World, Hello Imagine Cup

Do you like ghost stories? Do you like exploring the unknown, possibly encountering numerous supernatural beings? What if...

Stories. They are everywhere. In pictures. In our minds. In our surroundings. Every house has a story and every object around us has a story. What if you could experience the story?

"10 years ago, in our hometown, we used to gather at the entrance of a big old house that was built upon a graveyard, just across a Church. Legend has it that spirits of its' former dead owners wandered around the house and we wanted to experience seeing a ghost hovering above the floor. Careless and mindless as we were back then, we ventured into the house with flashlights in order to explore it. 

The very first night we attempted to open doors and explore its' rooms 2 of our flashlights went off at the same time, and we heard strange noises like footsteps along with a chain slowly approaching us as the sound was getting louder and louder. This was enough of a chilling experience for us, as we went out of the house and never ever came back. Who knows what REALLY happened there after all? "

"We never ever mentioned about the house... Until now."

Based on this story, we were so deeply inspired to create a game that would, in its' very essence, bring this thrilling ghostly experience to you, as much as possible, and as such, Dementia, the land of Madness was born. (Dementia = Madness in Latin)

We created our very own universe, with its' crazy characters, all willing to explore places with bone-chilling stories, curses and haunts. The very first place which has many stories to share and experience : The Blackthorn Manor.

To get to the point : Introducing Dementia : Tales of Blackthorn Manor , a survival multiplayer turn-based strategy game with horror elements. The Blackthorn Manor is a cursed building with 3 different floors: The Upper Floor, the Ground Floor and the horrible Basement. Up to 6 players may enter the house at any time and start exploring it. Every time you play, the rooms appear randomly, and you never know what can happen, what is waiting for you on the other side of the door... Can you open the door?

Every room has a story to share, or a seal to break. Each time you break a seal, there is a chance for you to trigger a curse. Every curse changes gameplay dramatically, as one of the whole lot of you explorers, turns into a traitor and most of the times transforms into a horrific supernatural (or not) creature that the rest of the explorers have to fight.

You never get to chose sides, that's the risk of exploring the Blackthorn Manor, your goal is to either destroy the cursed one, or when  YOU get to be the cursed one, your goal is to destroy the others.

What this game has to offer is many many random stories, random traitor setups and a different style of play for each curse that unfolds.

Following is a screenshot of our prototype that we have been working on:

4 Brave Capsules are exploring the Blackthorn Manor...

Every Friday we will be keeping you informed about Dementia : Tales of Blackthorn Manor and we will be updating you with concept art, models, environment. Stay tuned, there is much more waiting for you...

Experience the Curse...